Etymologically
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porch

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /pɔːtʃ/ (UK); /pɔɹt͡ʃ/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English porche, borrowed from Old French porche (“porch, vestibule”),[2][3][4] from Latin porticus (“colonnade, covered walk, porch”),[2][3][5] from porta (“gate, entrance”) (see port),[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to lead, pass over”).[3] It is a doublet of portico.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A covered entrance to a building: about 1290 in the OED, about 1300 in Barnhart and Etymonline.[6][2][3]

Semantic evolution

The Latin word had been borrowed directly into Old English as portic.[3] A colonnade or portico is from about 1420,[6] and the Porch, the Painted Stoa of Athens, stands for the Stoic school from the 17th century.[4][6] In the north of England a transept or side chapel was called a porch from 1522.[6] In the United States it has been used by 1832 for what the British call a veranda.[3][6][7]

Timeline

  • c. 1290 – a covered entrance.[6]
  • c. 1420 – a colonnade.[6]
  • 1522 – a side chapel (north of England).[6]
  • 1832 – a veranda (US).[3][6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A covered shelter projecting from the entrance of a building.
  2. (US, Canada) A veranda, open or partly enclosed.

Word family

  • porchless
  • porchlike
  • sunporch

Usage notes

In West Yorkshire mining, a porch was the arch at the bottom of a colliery shaft;[8][6] in Hertfordshire dialect, to porch meant to roam or ramble.[8]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  8. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)